Word processing systems are widely used in homes and businesses to allow computer users to create and modify text within text documents. A word processing system is typically provided as a software application executable on a computer system having a computer and various peripheral devices. The software application, referred to herein as a word processing program, provides users with the capability of creating, inserting, deleting and arranging text. The computer has a memory that stores the word processing program and also stores files which represent the text documents as data. When the word processing program is executed, a user can create a text document by entering text and, if desired, modifying the text and then storing a file which represents the text document on a peripheral storage device. Or, a user can modify an existing text document by reading an appropriate file into memory from a peripheral storage device the text document as desired.
Modern word processing systems also provide a variety of features by which users can enhance the text documents they create on such systems. One such enhancement feature is text formatting. Text formatting allows users to select different text formats to be applied to text within a text document. These text formats include character formats, which are applied to one or more characters in the text document, and paragraph formats, which are applied to paragraphs in the text document. Well-known examples of character formats are bold, italics, underlining, and the like. Well-known examples of paragraph formats are left alignment, right alignment, single spacing, double spacing, indentation, and so on.
Text formatting can be applied to format new text to be entered into a text document, and to format existing text which is already in the text document. In formatting new text, the word processing system can simply apply a text format specified by the user to each new character typed into the text document. In formatting existing text, however, the word processing system must also obtain from the user a selection of what portion of the existing text is to be formatted. The conventional method employed is for the user to first select a portion of existing text to which to apply a text format, and then to select a text format to apply to that selected portion. For example, if the user wishes to underline a word, the user first selects the word using a keyboard, mouse, or pointing device, and thereafter specifies an underlining format using the keyboard, mouse, or pointing device to apply the underlining format to the selected word.
A disadvantage of the conventional text selection method described above is that once a portion of existing text has been selected, only that selected portion can be formatted by thereafter specifying the text format desired. That is, it is not possible to apply the same selected text format to other portions of existing text without having to re-select that same text format for each different portion. Unfortunately, there are some instances in which a user may wish to apply the same text format to a number of different portions of existing text in a document. To accomplish this with the conventional method, the user must re-select the same text format numerous times, and the operation becomes undesirably time-consuming. Also, because the user is relied on to select the text format each time, the text formatting becomes prone to error and inconsistency. In such a case, the conventional method completely fails to provide the user with an efficient means of formatting text.
A further disadvantage of the conventional method described above is that it is not considered by all users to be an intuitive method of formatting text. Many new users, particularly children, have found the approach awkward and counter-intuitive. To these users, it is unnatural to have to select the object of a text formatting operation before the operation itself can be specified. For example, before performing a text formatting operation, a user might formulate the thought:
I want to Underline the word Elizabeth now. PA1 Select the word Elizabeth and then Underline.
The user must then:
Many new users find a selection in this order to be contrary to intuition. As a result, the word processing system takes longer to learn, and the practical use and enjoyment of the system is limited.